Jagged Alliance 2 is a turn-based, tactical warfare, sandbox game with a lot of RPG elements, management and strategy involved. Despite the almost 20 years that have passed the game has aged remarkably well and has yet to find a worthy predecessor.
The game still has a vivid Fandom, my youtube channel is not the only one creating JA2 content, I am rather one in a dozen. The modding of the game continues to this day.
Why is a random 1998 game you have never heard relevant in this day and age?
Jagged Alliance 2 is a great example of how to make an awesome game! In the header I mentioned how many genres JA2 unites. RPG, management, tactical combat and strategic combat are all very popular genres at the moment.
In Jagged Alliance you have the good old “Wife of President coupes against her husband, becomes a brutal dictator, husband hires you to take back the country by using mercaneries” scenario.
There are about 100 different hired guns available, all of them have their own voice actors, animated portrays, backstories, character traits and of course different stats (Strenght, Wisdom, Agility, etc.).
I chose to mention the characters first because it is the thing that most often pops to my mind. How can you forget a line like “You do not speak Russian? Ah, I miss days when Russia was at war with everybody." - Ivan Dolvich
The other majorly appealing aspect of the game is its freedom. You start on a map with about 150 sectors. Your only mandatory goal is dethroning Deidranna (The militant dictator wife of ex president) in one of the sectors of the main city of Arulco ( A fictional country that reminds of your typical Middle American banana state).
But also in the tactical combat itself there are countless ways to beat you enemies. Sneakily put them out with throwing knives and silenced guns, just go for a full on frontal attack or throw explosives, tear gas and mortars in the spots the enemy is hiding. You can even pull down walls of buildings with explosives if the entrance is too heavily guarded.
Some people argue that UFO: Enemy Unknown is a very similar game, especially when it comes to the combat. I heavily disagree with that. While yes, if you have no idea about the combat in JA2 you can imagine it like a more complex version of the combat in UFO, Wasteland or Fallout 2. BUT where UFO feels like scripted levels that you have to run through, attached with a ton of unrealism (sure, you saved a whole country by shooting 10 aliens in an ally), Jagged Alliance actually feels like you are taking on a whole army with an experienced squad of a few professional mercenaries pulling every trick in their arsenal to overcome the numerical odds that are stacked against you.
I could keep on talking about about other aspects of the game, like the very wholesome 2D graphics or the loot system, for months. If you want to hear and see more about the game reply to this post and visit my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuCywHKhHDQ8ka8uS5GqcUQ
The channel of the man who helped me a ton in making at least halfway decent youtube and JA2 videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS18txUlBGwJD4rL9maFedw
(He is much better at the game and at video editing, that sick guy plays the game without saving during combat!)